Beautiful Boy

Sheff watches “the weeks and months of [Nic’s] recovery from afar” (236). He continues to research meth, “this time canvassing the nation’s preeminent researchers and asking them what is to me the bottom-line question. What would you do if a family member were addicted to this drug?” (236). The responses are varied and inconclusive, although it is clear that “time in treatment—time measured in many months if not years—is usually required for dramatic change” (239). 

Sheff returns to Al-Anon meetings and is given a leaflet that includes a “Letter from an Addict” containing the advice: “Don’t believe everything I tell you; it may be a lie. Denial of reality is a symptom of my illness” (241). The rehab Nic is attending closes due to financial issues, and Nic moves “to Los Angeles to live near Vicki” (242) in a sober-living house. He gets a new sponsor, Randy, with whom he goes on long bike rides. He says “that Randy inspires him, ‘shows me how good life can be’” (242). Friends from AA help him get a job at “another renowned drug and alcohol rehabilitation program” (243). 

Sheff visits Nic to celebrate his twenty-first birthday. Nic “appears whole again” and even the fact he has survived to this age “feels like another miracle” (243).